You are here

Search

Review Corner: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows #1

One of my main goals these last two year was to read all of the Harry Potter books prior to seeing the beginning of the end for the movies. Sadly, I did not accomplish that goal. I only made it to the fourth book before my life became its normal chaos. I had a basic idea of what was going to happen in The Half Blood Prince, as my husband listened to the audio book at his computer without headphones. With The Deathly Hallows audio book, he used headphones. So, going into this first part of the movie, I was completely clueless as I have been with all of the previous movies aside from The Half Blood Prince.

Right from the beginning, the action revs up and gives us no real moment to settle in to the movie. One thing I would like to note is that the videography is more subdued than before, letting your own imagination run the film. The beginning fight scene is so quickly shown that it is difficult to discern exactly what is going on. Though when it is slowed down, it is nothing short of amazing.

All of the extra characters we love such as Hagrid, Fred & George Weasley, and so many more, are never seen after the first thirty minutes or so. This movie is strictly focusing on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and their struggle to survive while searching for the horcruxes. One can say without a doubt, that these three actors are superb and will have a long road of success in front of them, provided they can escape the typecasting. They easily carried the film, entertained the audience, and griped the audience in tension of what might be the unknown.

The effects of the movie seemed a bit random. While we see the characters disapparate (disappear) with amazing special effects, but we never them apparate (reappear). Instead, we see the ground and the camera pan up to the characters. It may seem frivolous to want to see the apparation effects, but it did get very tedious watching only camera pans.

Now, it’s very rare that a movie is complete without any problems or scenes that just do not fit with the rest of the movie. The Deathly Hallows isn’t a rare movie. One particular scene stands out above the rest as being awkward, so much so that it has caused some controversy. Ron is in the midst of a mild hallucination involving Harry and Hermoine, glittering in silver paint, kissing and naked. The effect the movie was going for was Ron’s own fear. However, the scene didn’t portray any other emotions than awkwardly silly.

Awkward scene or not, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a wonderful movie that will entertain, startle, and bring tears to the audience’s eyes. The beginning of the end for a movie series nearly everyone has become attached to as we have watched so many characters grow from young children to full grown adults. Prepare yourselves, as when this part ends, you’ll have to wait months to see the conclusion. July 2011 is too far away…